One of the systems used at the present time uses a method of linear identification by bar codes for the information relating to each bottle of plasma used in plasma fractionating processes. However, identification by reading bar codes may give rise to limitations and defaults, and may also give rise to incorrect readings if the print quality and adhesion of the labels is not correct.
The necessity to read bar codes individually, given that a bar code has to be read on each bottle every time, is a limiting factor in some stages of the process, in that other identification systems would make it possible to increase the speed and distance at which a set of bottles is read at the same time.
There are a number of factors which can influence the print quality of the bar code, such as for example, unsuitable paper, inappropriate ribbon, inappropriate temperature (both too low and too high), the printer head pressure, the speed of printing (poorer when faster), head problems (dirt or deteriorated points) or the quality of the head (number of points which it supports; the greater the print density, the greater the need for points).
A number of defects or limitations which may be presented by bar code labels and which may result in correct reading being impossible are detailed below:                A bar code label which is scratched as a result of problems with dirt in the printer head may give rise to discontinuity in the line of bar code and prevent reading;        A mark within the bar code zone may cause the code to be read incorrectly;        Labels printed at a too high temperature (excessive density) cannot be read because of the lack of contrast between the bars and the white background;        Labels with poor print quality, when the ribbon is running out, may not be read;        Labels with a code displaced in either the horizontal and vertical axes of the label may result in the bar code being truncated, and therefore impossible to read;        Poor paper quality, together with poor ribbon quality, may result in the code being blurred;        Bar code labels for blood derivative products stored at temperatures below −30° C. may have a build-up of frosting on their surfaces, preventing them from being read;        Roughened or folded labels may not be read, or may give rise to incorrect reading;        Folded labels also cannot be read;        If the code is entered manually, there is the possibility that human error may occur as said code is being entered and a bottle's traceability is lost;        If a label is stuck on by a person, there is the possibility that two different labels may erroneously be placed on the same bottle;        A label may become unstuck either as a result of the quality of the adhesive or the surface and the temperature at which the bar code label adheres, and it will not be possible to identify a bottle;        If the type of code does not follow the ISBT standard (international standard regulating the transfer of information relating to blood transfusions), some bar code readers will not read these codes;        If any part of the label is torn, the bar code will also be illegible;        The language configuration in bar code readers may also give rise to different readings of the same code, for example, in the configuration of the Spanish keyboard the reading of the symbols equals (“=”) or ampersand (“&”) do not correspond to the same symbols if the reader is configured with an American keyboard; in the latter case the reader sees the symbol for an opening exclamation mark (“i”) and an oblique (“/”) respectively;        Limit to the length of characters in the bar code. Different bar code readers may have different maximum character length limits, independently of the start and end of reading and check codes. Codes longer than 20 characters cannot be read in some readers;        A product may be identified by different bar coded labels which provide different information at different stages of the process and the operator must distinguish these and know which has to be read in order to correctly identify the product at each stage in the process.        
Likewise the very handling of plasma bottles which have bar coded labels adhering to their surfaces may result in the bar code label becoming unserviceable once blood has been donated.
With the appearance of systems based on the emission of radiofrequency signals, such as for example, the technology of automatic radiofrequency identification or RFID, various embodiments relating to labelling with RFID inlays in containers for blood derivative products have been disclosed. The RFID technology itself makes it possible to unify the diversity of bar code labels needed for each process into a single RFID label or inlay. This makes it possible to reduce human handling and the level of human error mentioned above. Likewise, RFID technology makes it possible to store a larger quantity of information as a result of the integrated chip contained within it, allows reading, which does not have to be linear, and reading at distances greater than is possible with bar codes, making control by lots possible.
By an RFID label, RFID tag or RFID inlay is meant an assembly comprising a printed antenna or layer of conductive material capable of capturing electromagnetic waves at particular frequencies and an integrated circuit comprising a non-volatile memory in which the information is stored and which is capable of being fed by the energy originating from the electromagnetic waves.
However, location of an RFID inlay on the outside of a bottle of blood derivative products does not avoid some of the disadvantages that are present with bar codes. On the one hand, when working at temperatures below −30° C., it does not prevent such RFID inlays from accumulating frost on their surfaces, preventing them from being read. Likewise, if these RFID inlays adhere to the exterior of blood derivative products containers, there is again nothing to prevent the inlay from becoming detached or being altered or even torn off, and therefore cannot be identified.